On the gathering of evidence at Guantánamo

[Extract from the remarks made by Col. Morris Davis (ret.) at the January 11, 2011 panel Nine Years of Guantánamo: Now What? organized by the New America Foundation]

One of the things that really struck me [at Guantánamo] is the difference [between] law enforcement and intelligence. And the friction between the FBI and the CIA. And I'll give you an example—and this is a hypothetical. You know, you'd get a piece of information from the field saying Hey, we got a picture of this guy, we're trying to figure out who it is; can you show it to the detainee and get him to identify him?

You know, they'd bring the picture, and they'd say—FBI would say—

Do you recognize this person? And the detainee would go No, I don't.

Are you sure?

Yeah, I'm sure; I don't recognize him.

Intelligence would come in and go: Do you recognize this guy? And he'd say No.

Well, wait a muinute— now, you were at Al Farouq, weren't you, in 2000 and…

Yeah, yeah, I was there.

And didn't you meet so-and-so?

Yeah, yeah, he was there.

Now, didn't he have a brother?

Well, yeah.

So could this possibly be …

And when it got written up in th summary—the intelligence, the IIR, or the SIR [Summary Interrogation Report], the summary report—it says Detainee identified…, you know, this person, and now that's being used as evidence. You know, you can't—the detainee [that has been "identified"] can't—go interview this guy [that "identified" him] and say Do you really know me? It is written up as fact that the detainee identified this person as being whoever it is, and that's what's being offered up as evidence.